Here comes the sun

On January 21, 2026January 21, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

Back in mid-October I was out early, heading to Fort Desoto Park to hopefully see some winter birds. This was my first trip back since May. As I drove into the park (it opens at 7am) I paused on the bridge since no one was behind me to snap the above with my phone. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge was still lit up.

By the time I made it to East Beach and hiked out on the beach the sunlight was starting to show and I could barely see the lights on the bridge.

The low clouds along the bridge kept the sun from popping out early but casted some cool rays along the sky. I didn’t want to wait for the sun to come up past the clouds so I headed to North beach after this shot.

Out on North beach the sky had a pink and orange tint before the sun came up over the beach.

The sun was coming up over the trees as I walked far up Outback Key.

At the tip of Outback Key. It was a long walk back to the parking area.

I didn’t see any winter birds except for a few white pelicans (more on those later). All of the usual birds were there including a few reddish egrets that always show off when they are dancing for their food.

I always stop by the long gulf fishing pier before leaving and the area was busy with big ship traffic.

A few dolphins along the pier.

Critters on the causeway

On November 12, 2025November 17, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

Another summer walk along the Dunedin causeway.

I saw a spotted eagle ray as I walked over the bridge. I don’t see them often.

As I crossed under the bridge to get to the other side (safer than crossing this busy road) I paused to watch boats go by and clouds start to form.

Birds are always keeping an eye on the fishermen hoping for a lost bait fish.

It’s common to see a reddish egret here. This one was just walking around and I didn’t have my camera with me so I quickly snapped the above with my phone and kept walking.

I was wishing I had my camera as I noticed the oystercatcher family at the bottom of the bridge. The two in the far left of the bottom picture are juveniles, probably born a few months earlier and the parent was on the far right. A young little blue heron was walking across the seaweed at the bottom of the picture.

I took several videos of them looking for little sea creatures to eat for breakfast.

Dark skies and a rainbow

On September 24, 2025October 15, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I love stormy mornings in the summer. It makes my walk so much cooler although I still get soaked because the humidity is over 90% on mornings like these. When I got to the Dunedin causeway in mid-June I could see a faint rainbow.

The rainbow stayed through the beginning of my walk.

Heading over the bridge I could see rain far off towards Clearwater Beach. I didn’t hear any thunder and kept my eye on the skies for any sign of lightning. I walked back and forth near my car instead of walking all the way across the causeway.

The sun was trying to peek out as I made my way back over the bridge.

More rain on the other side. I was surrounded by storms but it was not raining over me and the sun was peeking out.

The sun was still out as I got back to my car.

I saw the reddish egret in the low tide but I had left my camera at home so I quickly snapped the above with my phone.

More storms coming in as I headed home.

Tiny rare babies growing up on the beach

On August 16, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

It was May 1st and I was back at Fort Desoto Park early. The sun was already up when I drove over the bridge into the park. I had a feeling the oystercatcher eggs might have hatched earlier this week so I wanted to get out on the beach early.

I had a short hike out to the oystercatcher nest but I got distracted by the spoonbills feeding in the tidal pool just off the parking lot. There were also several tricolored herons feeding.

I don’t see yellowlegs here often so I had to stop for a shot of it as well.

I made it out to the nesting area and the babies were already on the move. The area had been roped off so people wouldn’t trample through the nesting area and the parents were feeding the babies inside the roped area. There were three eggs but only two hatched. One hatched late Tuesday, one hatched Wednesday and I was there early Thursday morning.

They were so tiny and hard to spot across the roped off area. They stayed close to the parents as one parent would take off and then come back 5-10 minutes later with food. I was taking these with my 180-600mm zoom lens and they are cropped so they were really far away.

As we waited for the parents to bring in food to the babies we got distracted by the reddish egrets coming by including the white morph one.

Skimmers flying by.

Mom had a juicy piece of food in her beak, maybe a piece of clam.

After a while the babies got tired and plopped down for a long nap so I headed out. There were a handful of photographers there and several bird stewards watching the area so people don’t get too close. The bird stewards are all volunteers and keep watch over the nest and these rare babies while they grow up making sure they are safe from the tourist crowds.

There was an osprey nest in between the beach and the parking lot so I stopped for a few minutes and caught both babies looking at Mom.

A morning out on the beach

On August 4, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

Another sunrise at Fort Desoto Park in late April.

As I was leaving the East Beach area after taking a few sunrise pictures I passed two osprey. Both had big fish for breakfast.

A great crested flycatcher was sitting up high watching the sun come up.

When I got out to North Beach I saw a reddish egret right away. He was busy fishing for his breakfast in a tidal pool.

I found another one farther up the beach but this one was right into the sun.

A young black bellied plover stands in front of the sleeping red knots.

Red knots are migrating birds and only stop over for a short time to refuel on their way back and forth between their breeding grounds in the northern most part of the continent to the far tip of South America. This trip I was able to catch many of them in their reddish orange breeding colors.

A red knot surrounded by 3 black bellied plovers, two were just starting to get their black bellies for the summer breeding season.

A cute little dunlin was poking around in the wet sand for a snack.

A young herring gull, strutting on the beach with those pink legs, was going to find out that the piece of seaweed was not a good snack.

A big boat passing by the pier.

A crown conch in the shallow edge of the water at low tide.

The dolphins were swimming around the fishing pier trying to steal fish from the fishermen.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Finally out on my favorite beach again

On May 14, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights9 Comments

It felt really good to be out on this beach in mid-February. My last visit to Fort Desoto Park was in June. I didn’t make it down here in the summer and then the hurricanes hit in September and October. The park had a lot of damage and was closed for several months. They opened back up in stages and the north beach area did not open until early February. To the naked eye it looked the same but there were small changes. The park rangers sifted through the sand on the main beach areas to clear all of the debris that had washed up on the beaches here. I was out at the beach just after the sun came up (I stopped at East Beach to get sunrise shots but more on those later).

It was low tide and I walked up to the end of Outback Key.

The sun coming up over seashells.

The back side of the lagoon had a lot of big clam shells that had washed up with the tide. The shells were empty and most were covered in barnacles. Wilson’s plovers were hiding among them. It’s a good place for them to nap because people wouldn’t be walking through those shells and stepping on them.

A piping plover walks by me with his orange legs.

All of the usual birds were on the beach including great blue herons, reddish egrets and a wintering ring-billed gull.

Almost to the northern end of the key. It was going to be a long walk back.

This guy got stranded in the low tide. It was going to be a while before that boat was getting out of that spot. The shorebirds were keeping him company.

I noticed that the grassy areas at the north tip were gone and found out that they didn’t wash away. They were covered with sand. In certain areas you could see how much more sand had stuck on the beach during the storms.

Causeway birds

On April 9, 2025May 11, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

It was a beautiful cool morning in early January during my walk at the Dunedin Causeway.

After my walk I stopped at the lagoon (the end of the first bridge that’s hidden by tall mangroves). I had my camera in the car and was hoping there would be some shorebirds hiding back there. The above was taken with my phone and that boat looked farther away that it really was.

Zooming in with my camera I could see a belted kingfisher with a tiny fish on the sailboat mast.

After gulping down that first fish he made several passes in front of me before leaving without another fish.

The grumpy reddish egret was there and must have been full from his breakfast because he did not move or attempt to feed while I was there.

The white ibis were busy digging up tiny sea creatures to eat as they walked by me.

The other usual birds were there including a great egret and a great blue heron.

I stopped by a small hidden park near the causeway and noticed a marina in a cove just off the park. From this view it looked like they only had a little roof damage from the hurricanes but it’s hard to tell if the docks were damaged.

Fun birds at the marina

On October 5, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I never expected to see juvenile oystercatchers at the Dunedin marina. I was out for a walk in late June and was glad I had my camera in the car. The above were almost fully grown. They still had a little black tip on their beaks and their backs feathers were still pale gray. Although I shouldn’t be too surprised since I have seen a pair on the nearby causeway pretty regularly. They must have found some secret place to nest because this area is very populated.

One parent was nearby and was showing the young ones how to look for food along the oyster beds around the jetti in front of the marina. They did find a few morsels. The other adult that was with them stayed farther away and I couldn’t get them all in the same shot.

Twins hanging out together.

Eventually they all took off together towards the causeway.

While watching the oystercatchers a reddish egret flies by.

The purple martins were still there and the babies were almost grown and learning to fly. At some point in in early July they all left until next spring.

Out on the beach before the tourists.

On August 19, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was early in the morning when I headed to Fort Desoto Park in late May. I had heard there were baby oystercatchers in the lagoon the day before so there was a good chance I could find them somewhere near there. The park opens at 7am and I was over the bridge before the park at 6:55.

I was not alone in my quest. Word gets out fast around this area and there were several other photographers also heading to the lagoon. We didn’t find the oystercatchers there (they are on the move once their babies are born but they couldn’t have gone too far). There were a lot of other great birds in the lagoon though. I snapped a few shots before heading to the north tip. The sun was just coming up over the bushes and you can’t see the lagoon from the other side. There were so many different birds here. Great egrets, a reddish egret, a snowy egret, a tricolored heron, and several spoonbills were all feeding in this swampy corner.

I saw the white morph reddish egret feeding on the way to the north tip. I hadn’t seen this bird since last August and I forget how beautiful and graceful he is.

Boats out on the gulf include a small flat fishing boat and much bigger boats.

I did find the oystercatcher babies but more on them later. Before leaving the park I always stop by the fishing pier to see if I can find anything interesting. This great blue heron had taken a fish from a fisherman and the great egret was trying to steal it from him. The great blue heron swallowed it quickly.

A snowy egret had snatched someone’s bait.

A quick video of the snowy egret being chased by the other birds to steal his snack.

Out on the beach early in the morning before the tourists get here, although it’s a long hike out to the tip and the tourists usually stay close to the parking lot.

Dolphins, a manatee and a spoonbill!

On February 22, 2024February 21, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals4 Comments

I was driving on the Dunedin causeway one morning in mid-November when I saw a roseate spoonbill feeding along the shoreline at the beginning of the causeway. I had my camera in the car so I turned around and got out and snapped a few shots before someone came walking down the beach and spooked him away. I’m glad I stopped before my walk because he would not have been there on my way back. He looked so pretty in the sun.

The grumpy looking ole reddish egret was there. I see him here often. He didn’t move an inch while I was taking pictures of the spoonbill. After a quick walk on the bridges I headed to the nearby marina to walk around.

As I walked around by the boats a dolphin was heading into the marina. He was fast but I was able to snap the above with my phone. I didn’t even see him leave.

When I walked out on to the fishing pier there were several dolphins heading out into the open water. The marina dolphin may have been one of them.

Someone was going to have a nice boating trip, although it wasn’t windy at all this morning.

There were several manatees in the marina swimming in between the slips. One came fairly close to the sea wall. It looked like he had some type of hump on his back but I couldn’t get a better shot.

I looked up from the manatees and saw a green heron hiding on a boat, watching me. They are common here and eat the bugs and small mangrove crabs on the dock poles.